DFL Rural Caucus September Meeting with Dr. Ken Engelhart

Join the Rural Caucus for our monthly meeting and an evening on rural healthcare with our speaker, Dr. Ken Engelhart. Dr. Ken Engelhart will talk about current health care census data, what's happening to accessibility in rural areas, and the movement to improve and expand Medicare (including dropping the age of eligibility). About Dr. Ken Engelhart: Ken Engelhart is a retired primary care physician.  He received his MD degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1978 and completed his internal medicine residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester in 1981.  He worked in rural South Dakota for four years and then in primary care at the Marshfield Clinic from 1986 to 2006.  In 2006 he began a 10-year career at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis, where he served as clinical chief of primary care medicine.   At the VA,  he was involved in starting the patient-centered medical home and worked to achieve more timely appointments for veterans in primary care.  He was one of the leaders of a special project to provide medication for all eligible Veterans needing Hepatitis C treatment.  While at the VA, he enjoyed being able to provide his patients with prescription medication that the VA nationally was able to negotiate at 40% less cost than in the private sector.  He has had the varied experience of working in a small rural clinic, a large multispecialty clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, and a publicly funded and delivered care system at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.  Ken is passionate about advocating for and being an expert in the improvement of healthcare financing and delivery in our country.